Porto s***house Pepe leads 42-man brawl as Atletico qualify for Champions League
Where there's a brawl, there's usually veteran Portuguese defender Pepe.
And so it proved once again on Wednesday, with the 38-year-old at the centre of the drama as Atletico Madrid's crucial Champions League clash against Porto descended into a 42-man ruckus with two players sent off.
The La Liga side were leading 1-0 when the game at Estadio do Dragao lurched into chaos.
Atletico were already a man down after referee Clement Turpin had dismissed Belgium international Yannick Carrasco for lashing out.
Carrasco grabbed the ball to try and slow the game down, but struck one of Porto's players when he saw the ball being taken from him.
Diego Simeone's side then began appealing for the majority of decisions in an attempt to decrease the pace of the game still further and hold on to their narrow lead.
Little over three minutes after Carrasco received his marching orders, Porto were also reduced to ten men when Brazilian full-back Wendell was shown a red card after appearing to strike an Atletico player.
That prompted a furious reaction from both teams, with players and coaches clashing on the touchline.
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Pepe, not one to shy away from conflict, was front and centre of the fracas and could be seen on TV yelling in the face of one of the Porto players.
He was booked for his part in the melee as Turpin attempted to regain control of the match.
Former Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann had put Atletico ahead in the second-half, shortly before the unsavoury scenes.
The Frenchman opened the scoring on 56 minutes with a close-range tap in after a header was flicked on.
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Porto rang the changes as they sought an equaliser, but instead Atletico were able to seal the game and with it their place in the last-16 of the competition, alongside group winners Liverpool.
Angel Correa and Rodrigo de Paul wrapped things up for the Spanish side before Sergio Oliveira scored a late consolation for Porto who drop into the Europa League.
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